I know this is going to make me undyingly popular, but did any of you ever think of what chemicals you might be “testing” on your skin?
This is like, a game, where the girl who finds the most short-term skin improvements wins?
Are you completely insane? Do you imagine the manufacturers have any compunction about selling you whatever can get by the current FDA tests?
Do you have ANY conception of how overburdened the EPA is? How backlogged they are getting around to testing new “miracle” chemicals? How they spend years, decades, trying to build a case against just a few chemicals that are obviously, completely, unarguably dangerous?
I’ve had beautiful skin since high school (really, I can pick apart all my flaws, but I’ve been blessed with beautiful skin).
What do I do? Nothing. I have never touched it with any soap or cleanser (I went through a fit in college of trying to do what my friends were doing and my face started to break out, so I just quit and it went back to being fine). Since I’ve hit 30+ I’ve started to get some fine lines around my eyes so at night before bed I smear on some great Mary Kay moisturizer that my mom sells around my eyes.
No make up, no soap. Trust me, I’m a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant’s worst nightmare.
Since I started this thread I guess It’s only fair that I tell you what I use.
AM.
Wash with Loreal Hydrofresh, St Ives Clear Pore wash, or Mary Kay deep cleanser
Moisturize with Signature Club A Glow from within moisturizer, Avon Luminosity or St Ives oil free moisturizer (sill looking for that perfect eye cream)
PM.
remove eye makeup with Mary Kay oil free eye makeup remover
Wash with cleansers mentioned above
Apply Mary Kay toner
Moisturize with Avon Retroactive Cream (the Bomb!)
Sometimes I will use Paulas choice 2% BHA lotion
for exfoliation
Occasionally will apply a mary kay mask of some
kind
Like some of you, I’m a product Junkie! As far as makeup goes, that’s a whole other thread!!
When I was a teenager I used to use the apricot scrubs and sea breeze. When I was living large in my twenties it was the Lancome and Estee lauder products and now that Im a pennypinching housefrau about to tumble into my forties I use Loreal products and Oil of Olay.
Foaming face wash 2x day
followed by alcohol free toner and anti ageing moisturizer with SPF 15.
I have never trusted the Avon products - Like partly-warmer I’m suspicious of certain products too.
It took me over 30 years to figure out my skin. Not that I had alot of acne , but I always seemed to have one blemish that took forever to disappear.
It also helps that I am a moron in figuring out that I did not need any type of ‘system’ from any high falutin’ salon ( never bought into that anyways) or the more expensive over the counter products. But I did drop bucketloads of money on cosmetic disasters from the drug store.
Also, I discovered (much to late) that hair conditioners and goop that you put on hair can cause outbreaks too. I don’t wear goop anymore, and finally work between three conditioners that don’t cause breakouts. Having sensitive skin is a pain.
My routine is painless and simple:
Dove sensitive skin soap.
Wash cloth ( instead of a scrub, its the same thing, really. Save $ and space under your sink. My husband refers to the Apricot facial scrub stuff as “sand in a can”)
Lubriderm Skin Renewal with SPF 15 and retinol. (this stuff is great for sensitive skin.)
YMMV
Oh, and my only makeup is mascara, some times concealer and (if I can find it) lipstick. I really like Physcian’s Formula Skin Highlighter.
That is all.
I would love to be a product junkie, but change-ups make me break out every time. I stick to Noxema-its the only thing that really seems to do the trick. I use those Ponds cloths to remove mascara, and an AHA moisturizer. All my moisturizers and my Revlon “Skinlights” stuff, have SPF 15, so I don’t have to worry about ever forgetting the sunscreen.
Body Shop Skin Defensives: a quick wash with the Face Wash, followed by a few spritzes of the Hydrating Freshener (which comes in a pump spray bottle). Once in a while I’ll need a dab of the Moisturizing Cream, but that’s maybe twice a week in the winter. Unless I’ve worn make-up, which is rarely, I do this routine only in the morning, not at night.
Very low maintenance; just soap and water. It helps that I almost never wear makeup - just for special occasions - try and stay out of the sun and use sunscreen.
I use NOXEZMA in the blue jar as face lotion. I have for years.
People usually guess my age as 35-38. I am almost 49. Also, use cool water on your skin. And NEVER sleep on your face, that causes wrinkles that STAY!
I call NOXEZMA ‘body bondo’.
My skin can be a real pain at times; I still break out now and then (a pimple here, a pimple there - nothing major like when I was a young teen) and get small blackheads at times. I did a lot of reading to find out what products wouldn’t irritate my skin, clog pores, and so on. (One really helpful book was Don’t Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me by Paula Begoun; she analyzes the ingredients in thousands of products, as well as comparing prices and other things.)
I’m settling into this skin care routine for my combination skin:
Morning:
Wash with store brand version of Cetaphil cleanser.
Lightly swab face with toner (Neutrogena Alcohol-Free Toner).
Put benzoyl peroxide cream on any broken-out areas.
Apply UVA/UVB SPF 45 suncreen to face; that’s really the only thing to truly help with wrinkles besides surgery, etc.
After work:
Wash with cleanser.
Apply toner.
Apply BHA (salicylic acid) cream for exfoliation/clearing out blackheads (Neutrogena Clean Pore Treatment).
Oh, and don’t laugh - but one of the things I read was that for absorbing extra oil, instead of those clay masks and similar things, milk of magnesia has the same active ingredient and is a lot cheaper, plus less likely to irritate your skin accidentally since it doesn’t have all those extra ingredients. So once or twice a week at night I just rub a little into the oily areas (nose mostly, some on the forehead). :o
I used to love the Body Shop’s Passion Fruit Cleansing Gel but they stopped making it, sigh.
Once, I blew a great deal of money on the Murad line - and it was wonderful… brilliant brilliant stuff, my skin looked amazing. Sadly, way too expensive for me to do more than twice (actually, too expensive to do twice, but definitely not 3 times)
Now, for face - I wash in the morning with “Clean & Clear Daily Pore Cleanser” which has the microbeads that exfoliate w/o the sharp corners that skin care professionals say that ground apricot has, & spa gloves. And then when I’m putting on body lotion, I put some on my face.
I don’t wear makeup, so I don’t worry about taking it off at night (but when I do, I use the same stuff and then remoisturize).
I know I am now old enough to start using something to moisturize my eyes, so I need to find something to use. So far, just haven’t been interested enough at appropriate times to do that.
For body, Ivory Soap & spa gloves and then Jergens Ultra Healing lotion (everything else feels like liquid chalk, milk, or grease or smells odd)
(& then of course, the occasional splurge somewhere - yes, I can window shop a drugstore (not to mention BodyShop, &ct.) with the best of them. And my medicine cabinet shows that).
Well, after years of neglecting my skin and using whatever, I finally got serious a few years back. While I still from time to time use Noxema, The St. Ives stuff, the Olay cloths…when I’m extremely poor…the only thing that seems to actually make a difference is the Mary Kay stuff. I can’t always do all the steps I should…can never get the hang of taking off what’s left of my make-up at night, fer instance. However, when I’m using the cleanser (Formula 2) and the moisturizer, and using the mask as a scrub a couple times a week, I find myself stroking my cheeks all day long…I just can’t get over how nice it feels. When I’m off the Mary Kay, this never happens.
I also use the Mary Kay foundation exclusively now…has a nice amount of sunblock, and I never have to waste money on a shade that doesn’t work. It seems all the other brands I’ve tried either change their line by the time I need another bottle…forcing me to try new shades, because ivory is not the same from one formulation to the next, or just come out too dark, no matter how light I go. With the Mary Kay, I get consistent results. As much as I love to save money, this is one area where I resign myself to paying more…but at least it’s not as much as Clinique!
I try to keep my routine simple–that way I know I’ll do it more consistently. I really like the Neutrogena line of skincare; it’s reasonably priced, conveniently located in drugstores, and it cleans my face without stripping. One hint I have is to not exfoliate your skin every day, if you’re over the age of 30. I try to exfoliate about every other day. I also wash and exfoliate in the shower; I feel everything gets rinsed off more thoroughly.
Before bed: Wash face with either Oil of Olay wipes or Wal-Mart’s 3-in-1 wipes. Pat on Aveeno SPF15 moisturizer with soy extracts.
Upon waking: Rinse face – no soap, nothing – and put on same moisturizer.
In the shower I use the Freeman’s scrub 2-3 times a week. The other times I use L’Oreal’s Hydrating Foam Cleanser.
Once every couple of weeks I’ll give myself a facial. My skin’s been a bit dry lately, so I’ve been using Origins Drink Up Moisturizing Masque. The stuff is so rich that it doesn’t take much to cover your face!
My doctor recommended only thoroughly washing your face once a day. More than once and you could be stripping your skin of its natural oils, which is a no-no for us gals with dry skin…
I also rarely wear makeup, which makes a difference skin-wise.
I’m pretty low-maintenance too. Oil of Olay foaming cleanser every morning & evening, followed by a moisturizer with sunscreen 365 days a year. For years I was using Olay SPF 15 moisturizer (unscented), but I recently got a small sample of Lubriderm’s new facial stuff (it’s got some “non-irritating” version of Retin A or something like that in it) and I liked it, so I picked up a bottle. It’s also SPF 15 and scentless. Once in a while I use a Freeman mask (the cucumber one) but since the Lubriderm lotion exfolliates, I don’t want to overdo that part.
Body-wise I use whatever moisturizing body wash looks good when the last bottle has run out, and Lubriderm “normal-to-dry” lotion, again unscented. I like pretty scents, but for that I’d rather buy something like Bath & Body Works (their Tranquil Sleep stuff is soooo nice). For basic day-to-day stuff, I go with the plain ones.
I don’t wear make-up regularly, and when I do it’s just lipstick and mascara-- I hate messing with foundation and I’m pretty pale so it’s just a big pain. Zits, thank Gods, are few and far between so I mostly ignore them 'til they go away.
I have beautiful skin. Mr. Athena tells me that all the time.
I do nothing to it. I don’t wear makeup, I don’t put any “products” or even soap on my face. When I’m in the shower, I get my face wet. Then I dry it off.
Wash with Ivory
Because I tend to break out, apply cream from nature’s cure acne stuff - it’s a benzoyl peroxide cream, but unlike a lot of others, this one doesn’t dry my skin out, and it looks a lot better. I never take the pills that come with the stuff, because I figure they’re just sugar pills mostly and don’t really do anything.
Makeup: very, very rare. Occasionally some mascara, but those days are few and far between.
Evening, if no makeup has been used, wipe down face with warm water and a washcloth. Re-apply cream, lightly.
If makeup has been worn, I break out the ivory again.
My skin is hypersensitive to a lot of ingredients, and this really works best for me, along with lots of water. My skin currently looks better than it has in years.
